1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method for increasing the time that the system has to react to detecting an object and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing time dilation so as to allow a pre-collision sensing system on a vehicle to detect an object in front of the vehicle with enough time to deploy collision preparation safety devices.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Vehicle manufacturers are continually trying to improve vehicle safety for both vehicle occupants and persons outside of the vehicle, such as pedestrians. One system of this type is referred to as a collision preparation system. For example, a reversible active pedestrian safety system is a collision preparation system that takes certain actions if a pre-collision sensing system on the vehicle determines that the vehicle may collide with a pedestrian. The pre-collision sensing system will typically send a control signal to automatically engage the brakes of the vehicle in the event of an imminent collision. Also, the system may raise the back of the hood of the vehicle some distance so that if the vehicle does impact the pedestrian, the pedestrian's head will hit the raised hood with more crush space that will cause less severe injuries. Further, the system may engage an active bumper system where a front bumper of the vehicle extends a certain distance to create a more favorable impact geometry and crumple zone, which will lessen the impact on the pedestrian.
The pre-collision sensing system needs to detect an imminent collision with a person or other object with enough time to deploy the hood and/or the bumper prior to impact with the pedestrian. For example, in the known system, the system must predict the collision 500 ms prior to impact to effectively deploy the bumper, and must predict the collision 200 ms prior to impact to deploy the hood. However, there may be incidents that a conventional pre-collision sensing system might be unable to make collision prediction this quickly.